Fear the Night (2023) User Reviews

Fear the headache this film will cause

[AngelHonesty · 4/10 · 26 July 2023]

I feel bad for Maggie Q. I really like her as an actress, and she should have never been in this movie. Everything about the film is so cringe. To the boring plot, the predictable scenes, the role your eyes "why on earth did you just do that?". Even the action scenes are boring and very few and far apart. The only nice part about the movie was the ending.

Eight girls take a trip out to the family cabin for a bachelorette party. Things go wrong.... Sounds like an interesting thriller right? There's no sex in the movie, very little gore and the blood looks like ketchup... It's so predictable and cliche and pretty much boring. Meggie Q was the only thing about the movie that was good. But one person cant carry an entire movie on their shoulders when everything else is horribly wrong with it.

Love Maggie Q! Another good movie opportunity blow due to overkill of stupidity.

[Phil_Chabert · 6/10 · 8 September 2023]

I absolutely love Maggie Q. She is so talented and has a great range. Great job by her and the rest of the ladies. I don't mind seeing a good movie with a group of ladies kicking ass. This was a very good action and suspense movie that paid the price, once again, for unnecessary overkill of feminism & man hate. We get it! No need to keep shoving it in our faces. We love good movies, keep your personal opinions out of it. Believe it or not, the majority of movie fans agree. We use movies to escape this kind of BS. This movie could have easily been rated higher with more stars. We are tired of good movies being ruined by personal or political beliefs.

People succeed in spite of their trauma - not because of it

[Vince_D · 6/10 · 26 December 2023]

Action/Suspense/Thriller home-invasion film written and directed by Neil LaBute and starring Maggie Q. The movie revolves around Tess, an Iraq War veteran and a recovering alcoholic, who returns home to attend her sister's bachelorette party at their family farm. The film takes a dark turn when a group violently invades the party, and Tess has to use her military training to protect herself and the other women from the violent assault.

LaBute stumbles into the common pitfall of romanticizing PTSD. Tess, like many of our real-life service members, unfortunately suffers from it, but the film falls into the cliché of presenting its symptoms as beneficial. In the movie, Tess's PTSD symptoms, such as heightened suspicion and strong startle response, coincidentally align with the actual threat present at the bachelorette party. This narrative choice can suggest that her trauma has somehow prepared her for this extreme situation. In reality, PTSD is a complex and often debilitating condition. It can manifest in various ways, including hypervigilance, flashbacks, and avoidance behaviors, all of which Tess presents with in the film. However, it does not work as the sort of "sixth-sense" often implied in films, including this one, and is something people have to work hard at to overcome. In other words, in real life, people succeed despite their trauma, not because of it; this film has that backwards.

Despite these criticisms, the performances from the entire cast were good. The action scenes, although sparse, were solid and suspenseful, with LaBute's skill in crafting suspense seeing the film approach an ominous horror-like atmosphere. Anything with Maggie Q is always worth a watch, and not just because she's gorgeous; she's a phenomenal actor and her presence elevates any film she's in. It's a shame that LaBute didn't tap deeper into her martial arts skills and athleticism, which could have greatly added to the film's fight scenes. This film would have been a perfect showcase for them, and their inclusion would have only made a decent film better.

Overall it's a good one-time watch for fans of the genre. 6/10.

Fear the Nonsense.

[Top_Dawg_Critic · 3/10 · 25 July 2023]

I'm a fan of Maggie Q, and I feel bad for her that she had to be part of such a lame excuse for an action-thriller. Barely any of her action skills were utilized effectively. This film lacked a cohesive and engaging narrative, was poorly cast directed, and for that matter, lacked any real and effective directorial skills. The most shocking part of this mess was that experienced filmmaker Neil LaBute with over 30 directing and 35 writing credits under his belt, still hasn't learned a thing about filmmaking. A fifth grade drama class can write and direct a better film than him.

Every genre cliche that has been done many times before and better, was in this mess, and LaBute still managed to have the worst of them all. The entire story was generic, slow, predictable, riddled with plot and technical issues, and was, simply put; utter nonsense. What's worse, is that as the film progresses, it gets worse and dumber by the minute. As if a group of dangerous criminal invaders wouldn't have at least one gun - at least for intimidation or with a silencer if noise is an issue, and not one flashlight lol. Like I said, a fifth grader can come up with a more realistic story.

The time-stamps he added made things worse, because it showed what very little and unconvincing plot happens in between the large gaps in time, to the point that you will get tired from cringing and eye-rolls. Even the normally comfortable 90 min runtime felt way longer with terrible pacing, lack of any real plot and character development, long dragged out and unnecessary scenes, and if that wasn't torture enough, LaBute throws in this infantile and logic-defying epilogue just to punish and confuse the viewer some more.

Maybe with any other better filmmaker, even some newbs that have given us decent films, this nonsense may have been an adequate watch, but as is, don't waste your time, I did it for you. It's a generous 3/10 from me, for all the ladies that tried their best to fend off the lame hicks, lame story, and lame directing, that they had to endure.

Huge disappointment!

[haroot_azarian · 24 July 2023]

I like Maggie Q and her last movie, the Protégé, I watched she was superb in it. Naturally I looked forward to watching this. Right from the beginning I despised Beth. She was totally obnoxious and aggressive towards Tess and kept yelling at her and putting her down. In fact I did not like any of the characters. The movie was pretty much confusing to start with. At first glance it seemed like all the girls were lesbians. Could not tell who was with who.

One of the stupidest scene was when their sister Rose, whose bachelorette party it was, was the first to get killed by the invaders' crossbow. What I found amazing was how calm and collected Beth was and immediately took charge of the situation and started dishing out commands to the terrified girls. I mean at one point she was kneeling next to her dead sister's body and very calmly placed her lifeless dangling hand on her chest and just continued giving instructions to the girls. What was that? Her sister was lying there dead and she was carrying on as if it was just another day in the office. Fair enough she was an Iraq war veteran and probably suffering from PTSD but still it was too unbelievable that she did not show an ounce of emotion towards her dead sister. Even Beth did not seem to care much about her dead sister.

At times the dialogue was absolutely stupid. Maggie Q did far better in the Protégé than in this movie. I do not blame her, I blame the script writer and the director.

There are plenty of other B-movies with a vengeful heroine in them. One of them, Army of One, even has a female ex-military out to avenge the murder of her husband. There is also Peppermint with Jennifer Garner out avenge the killers of her husband and daughter. Both of which were absolutely entertaining to watch.

I did not care much whether the movie was all about men being the evil ones and being dumb or stupid. What I cared about was the story and how it unfolded. And how unbelievable it was, how calm they all were with three dead bodies strewn all over the house, including Tess and Beth's sister Rose. The latter especially I was absolutely flabbergasted about and seriously annoyed me. At 59 minutes into the movie, I just could not wait for it to finish.

The movie was written and directed by the same person. In my experience I have found that a lot of movies that were written and directed by the same person turned out to be either crap or very weak plot holes. Oh and one other thing, the ending or the so-called "epilogue" was absolutely stupid!

If you're a Maggie Q fan you can watch it once I suppose, and then just forget about it.

Speaking of wrong place wrong time

[HorrorFilmHellion · 3/10 · 27 July 2023]

I would love to sit here and gush over how Maggie Q got hosed on this deal and yada yada.. but she helped produce this mess. Maggie Q was fabulous as Nikita back in the day, but I'm starting to feel that ominous sensation when I see new movies she's in. It feels similar to when I see a new flick pop up with Bruce Willis's name on the cover. She's hot and slick, and usually acts pretty well- but everything else about this parade of toxic masculinity was cringy, vapid, and failed to conjure up entertainment value. I gave it a star because.. well, MQ is hot, slick, and still acts pretty well- even if surrounded by empty, single-dimensional cardboard cut-outs. For MQ fans only.

Laughably bad - watch "You're Next" instead

[stevenmortonuk · 1/10 · 28 July 2023]

This movie is so bad I no longer support the US writer's strike. In fact, they should stay on strike permanently if this is good enough to be made into a movie.

It's not thrilling, the action is bad, and the writing is so poor I laughed out loud a handful of times.

The writing is shamefully inept. There is no twist, there is no genuine tension building, the dialogue is elementary school level, the characters are dislikable. The list could go on almost indefinitely.

The acting also stinks. Maggie Q is fine, but the rest are terrible.

The epilogue does the seemingly impossible and makes a bad movie even worse.

The movie "You're Next" has a similar plot but is leagues better than this. I'd recommend watching that instead.

Not an awful 90 minutes

[redban02 · 6/10 · 25 July 2023]

The movie isn't perfect. The most obvious issue is that it strains credibility when a tiny 105 pound woman (regardless of her military background) overpowers a 200 pound man. And MANY parts of the film are underdeveloped: the villains motivations and background, which involves some stuff about a meth lab, is hard to follow. The movie hints at something involving the heroine and alcoholism, but there is no clear explanation. The movie's two main characters are the heroine and her sister, yet I actually didn't even realize that there was a third sister until far later (the film did a poor job introducing this third sister; they did the whole bachelorette party for her in fact). The whole epilogue basically had me scratching my head

But even with all of those many issues. The movie isn't bad. There is a lot of suspense, the heroine is likable, the setting works, and the movie overall held my interest. By far, the most fun parts of the movie involve the heroine's playing quarterback and trying to lead the rest of the ladies to survival

It's not a bad 90 minutes.

Entertaining Violent Nonsense

[softermaniac · 7/10 · 5 August 2023]

You can tell from the title, or at least I could, that this movie is meant to be tongue in cheek. Come on. Fear the Night. It's a terrible title.

This movie is violence for the sake of violence. It's ridiculous story lines for the sake of violence. It's a wonderful, funny, campy 90 minutes of darkly comical gratuitous violence.

The movie is categorized incorrectly, which is attracting the wrong viewers. It's not an action/thriller movie. It's a horror satire.

But if you are entertained by movies with silly plots, ridiculous scenarios and a heaping helping of killing and mayhem, then you will like this movie as much as I did.

Other than Maggie Q.... A dumpsterfire

[TriniNemo · 4/10 · 28 July 2023]

If you enjoyed " You're Next" this movie will unfortunately leave a bitter taste in your mouth. I cant say that i disliked the plot of this movie and really had high hopes for it given Maggie Q as the lead. However the acting by the other ladies was lack luster and unbelievable and add this alongside a really poorly written script " voila", you get this . In this day and age who goes anywhere( worse yet in the middle of nowhere) knowing that communication signals are poor/none existent? Not even wifi? Come on! I watched in its entirety purely for Maggie Q and a curiosity ( hope) for at-least a creative ending.

Mega cool

[ssppetralli · 10/10 · 10 September 2023]

It is not because the story is new, because this type of story is a classic. What is new here is the savior role - in this case a female. Not a hero as such, but super tough and actionable - that not only doesn't hesitate to take decisions, but seems to take the right ones to have her dear ones survive. A lot of surprises, psychological terror, courage, cool fighting scenes, being united and split at the same time, and a lot of other good stuff.

It was great to finally see a movie with a female in this type of role, and not always a story written for a male actor. Thumbs up, and more of this please.

Pretty standard home invasion thriller that is given some added punch from LaBute's writing and Maggie Q's performance

[IonicBreezeMachine · 6/10 · 30 July 2023]

Trouble Iraq war veteran Tess (Maggie Q) attends the bachelorette party of her younger sister Rose (Highdee Kuan) organized by her older sister Beth (Kat Foster) with whom Tess has a strained relationship. On the night of the party, assailants surround the house and shoot at the group using bows and arrows as Tess using her military training to keep everyone alive and take down the assailants.

Fear the Night is a new home invasion thriller written and directed by Neil LaBute and starring Maggie Q for Quiver distribution and has recently premiered on VOD. Fear the Night doesn't stray far from the template of established home invasion thrillers, but it LaBute does create some pretty interesting characters thanks to his ability to create tense and uncomfortable situations from abrasive characters (such as In the Company of Men and Nurse Betty). The opening 30 minutes of the movie where Maggie Q's Tess deals with the unspoken awkwardness leading up to and during the bachelorette party kind of reminded me of the Karyn Kusama film The Invitation from 2015 in that much like how that film mixed horror tropes with an awkward dinner party setup, Fear the Night does something similar to an effective albeit not as successful degree. Once the action starts Fear the Night more or less follows most of the tricks and trappings of the home invasion setup but does add that little extra something by keeping some of the characters abrasive enough there's that lingering tension left over from before. The movie's also nicely bloody and with its lack of firearms and reliance on improvised or unconventional weaponry, we do get some fun bloody sequences including one scene with a potato peeler that will make many wince and cross their legs.

Fear the Night is the definition of a "solid rental". It's a familiar setup that's given just enough extra something to make it a reasonably breezy sit and has a solid performance from Maggie Q. For a quiet night in of violent fun you can certainly do worse.

Meh....

[tony-146-695626 · 5/10 · 24 August 2023]

A 6 is too high. Maggie Q is one dimentional here, but I will say she still looks good for 44.

The story is loose and several threads are intrdouced and left to dangle in the wind. The characters are not developed enough to care about any of them.

Also, all men in the movie are pigs or killers. Or that is how they are portrayed.

I watched half and fast forwarded to the end. Just too much dead space that does not advnace the film. Mild thriller. Never gets intense enough to grip you.

It is a very by the numbers girls in cabin with no cell coverage attacked by country good old boys bent on killing them for sport. But medicore script.

?? 😳🤦

[luvmytrpn · 3/10 · 31 July 2023]

From the start nothing makes sense. These girls don't seem to like each other at all, especially enough to be celebrating something together. Every cliche imaginable. Typical cringy bad guys, over acting, very weak plot, zero twists, incredibly predictable.... They just didn't give me enough info on anyone or anything. I wasn't invested enough to care in who gets killed or who ends up together, who survives, etc. It was the opposite.

Hated the whiny/mean sister so didn't have any feelings whatsoever regarding that character. Which also helped to make the "surprise" ending fall flat on its' face.

Also, would've been more impactful and empowering if she had dumped out the bottle at the end instead of drinking it. That just added another layer of disappointment. Bummed because I really wanted to like this one.

I recommend You're Next for a satisfying home invasion sort of movie.

Meh. It was a rather bland attempt...

[paul_haakonsen · 5/10 · 15 August 2023]

I had not heard about this movie from writer and director Neil LaBute priot to sitting down to watch it. So I really had no particular expectations to the movie. But I Will say that the movie's synopsis sounded interesting enough, plus the fact that the movie was starring Maggie Q certainly was a good selling point.

The storyline in "Fear the Night", however, turned out to be a rather bland and generic home invasion type of movie. Writer and director Neil LaBute didn't really bring much of anything new to the genre, and instead played it safe by cashing in on all the stereotypical tropes seen in the genre in many movies before this. But hey, at least there is a sense of security and familiarity in that aspect, I suppose.

The acting performances in "Fear the Night" were okay, and they had a good cast ensemble together for the movie, I will say that much. But the actors and actresses very given very little of anything substantial to work with.

If you're looking for a home invasion movie to watch, then I will say that there are better choices out there and more entertaining movies to be seen.

Watchable for what it was, "Fear the Night" is not a movie that made a lasting impression on me. And it is hardly a movie that warrants more than just a single viewing, because there isn't sufficient contents to the storyline to suuport more than just the first and only viewing.

My rating of "Fear the Night" lands on a very bland five out of ten stars.

Misandry

[aonsao · 1/10 · 11 September 2023]

If you didn't catch on in the first hour, the last scene makes it abundantly clear that everyone involved in this production hates males. Did you realize that stereotyping is bad... in any form? Not just racism... Absolute drivel.

Save your time and watch a film that didn't take no thought to make. It's nothing but an overreaction to current day politics. This is a real sign that Maggie Q's career is dead. It's a shame that she has stooped to this level.

Maybe think about what kind of film you are making before you invest in it... 1 stars is not low enough for this piece of garbage. Hard pass for educated folk.

Home Invasion Thriller, Okay

[hohlkopf2000 · 7/10 · 21 November 2023]

This Home Invasion Thriller is actually 5 stars.

But I rate 7 because I have a crush on Maggie Q.

And to be honest, the Thriller was entertaining and tense enough to keep me non stop on the seat.

Well, the flaws are obvious: Most actors only amateur or mediocre. The girls not pretty, except Maggie of course. The behaviour of the girls during the attack mostly stupid. Dialoges between the sisters unnecessary.

The good thing is, once the girls are under attack you feel for them and pity for them and hope they can survive.

Basically this is a Maggie Q show. She is dominating 70% of the scenes. Thumbs up for her.

Tired retread of this genre

[jmbovan-47-160173 · 4/10 · 8 October 2023]

So, one sister is getting married and has a Bachelorette party with her friends. They are going to the isolated farm/woods house of the three sisters' parents. Always a good move. Along the way, they stop for supplies and of course there are three pigs of men sexual harassing some of them. Surprisingly, later that night some men arrive and start killing people with arrows.

Oh wait! Maggie Q who is one of the sisters is struggling with PTSD after her time serving in the military as a kick ass protector in the Middle East. So she's going to Rambo it out.

The rest of the group of women are the standard Troup of entitled, privileged cast across the spectrum of what is found in today's film. But most importantly, they aren't prepared for such an attack, scream with every arrow, and are mouthy to Maggie Q but without any abilities to protect themselves.

And that's it. This film seems to exist only to showcase Maggie Q and her kick ass fighting skills. I don't complain about that. But, Nikita on TV had better characterizations for her to explore than this film.

Entertaining action-thriller

[johannes2000-1 · 7/10 · 26 March 2024]

It's not the best action-thriller ever, but it's definitely entertaining. The action kicks in pretty early in the movie, and with a pleasantly high pace it goes on till the (rather redundant) epilogue. Since there's a whole bunch of girls under attack, we get a serious amount of casualties, and the various killings are well done, mostly with the appropriate jump-scares. Maggie Q as the taciturn Iraq veteran Tess turns out as a relentless adversary to the thugs, who by the way are, for the most, irrelevant nincompoops, obedient to their more menacing ringmaster. While the last remaining girls turn into ferocious avengers, Tess has a final, short but rewarding showdown with the head-villain. A perfect conclusion, one would say, but then they came up with an epilogue (even announced as such with a textcard!), that didn't add anything to the story and thus provided a bit of an anticlimax. But for the rest: not bad at all!

Just Not Good

[simonwoodwrites · 3/10 · 28 November 2023]

This film feels like it should've been made in the 80's. Not sure it would've been any better but it would've fit the genre at the time. The story is a bit dated.

The film does suffer in a few respects, namely the characters. No one is very likeable, not even Maggie Q's main character. The main characters are a bunch of friends who are having a bachelorette party but the film falls into the troupe that all the women are catty to each other and don't get along. The antagonists which are a group of men are just as unlikeable due to their 1-dimensional bad guyness.

The story has issues. The film is punctuated with time stamps which don't help because all I keep thinking is what has this character been doing for the last hour? The bad guy's plan to wait the women out made no sense. They should've just rushed the house and wiped everyone in the first minute when they had the upper hand. Maggie Q's character's military tactics don't make a lot of sense and she doesn't save anyone in the end. One of the characters disappears and doesn't show up until the end. The showdown between Maggie Q and the main villain is very lackluster.

The epilogue is the real topper. The stuff with the sheriff is bizarre and the story Maggie Q has told the cops is weird. The odd interaction with the survivors needed explaining. It felt like a story thread was cut or the epilogue was tacked on to get the runtime up to 90 minutes because it was unnecessary/confusing.

Overall another low-budget subpar action flick.

A lot of people are not getting the ending.

[yowayyofranco · 10/10 · 24 July 2023]

The girls stole the money. Nikita kills the last guy at 2:30 yet then the movie jumps to 7:09am with Nikita walking out the house. What did the surviving trio do for over 4 hours? Sheriff says the three survivors walked on foot to safety. Mia's car was the only one working. Before escaping, Mia leaves her keys. After 2:30, the surviving trio takes the cash with Mia's car and meet up with Mia, who also escaped. Mia drops them off back at the house with the cash already hidden and then drives to the police station/waits for the trio to walk back to town and testify. Beth asks Nikita if they asked about the cash, but Nikita interrupts her confirming they got away with it. Mia is then waiting with her car for the girls outside the station.

I liked this film. There were a lot of original things going for it which you just don't see in the slasher genre.

• No cheap jump scares
• Girl used as bait actually escapes/survives
• Black girl survives
• Characters discuss needing sneakers to run/ask for hair ties before running
• The girls confused about the "two and one" knock on the door being Nikita or not absolutely would happen
• The relationship between the sisters
• The ending suggested by the opening has actually a lot more going for it.

VIEWS ON FILM review of Fear the Night

[burlesonjesse5 · 7/10 · 17 October 2023]

2023's Fear the Night is an incredibly violent and remorseless thriller, a film that might be a fine addition to anyone's Halloween repertoire (it is October after all). At 92 minutes, the only thing that irked me was how "Night" ended, not lean and mean but willing to explain everything to the viewer in a clip via a police station. Uh why? Just let star Maggie Q sit there on the porch, all bloodied-up, scowling at the audience, and reveling in her superior badassery. I mean that would be a neat final frame.

Directed by Neil LaBute (a veteran helmer who too loves to exploit the butchery) and distributed by those guys at Quiver (remember Becky and The Fanatic?), "Night" is like a hybrid of stuff akin to Straw Dogs and Assault on Precinct 13. You know those movies where people are trapped in a building (or abode) and a bunch of ruffians are trying to get in to cause havoc. Said ruffians want something and they are willing to execute and penetrate without scruples. "You've got no idea who we are and all we want is inside that house". Indeed.

The opening act in Fear the Night is a little shaky (trite dialogue, annoying characters, stock setting, etc.). Then the flick kicks into high gear cause what counts is the action and mode of survival. Maggie Q (as Army veteran Tess) is the standout, all business and getting her kill on at will. I mean if you've seen other TV shows and pics with Maggie you know she's just playing herself here. It's not a stretch but spot-on casting is the word I would use. Add LaBute's claustrophobic eye for setting up a scene, some random title cards depicting the time of events, and antagonists that country bumpkin it to the nth degree (bows and arrows, ski masks, knives) and you've got a living nightmare that's a bachelorette party gone to pot. Burns "night".

It was a party

[nogodnomasters · 5/10 · 3 August 2023]

The film opens with a bad teaser. Tess (Maggie Q) is ex-special forces and teaches self-defense in elementary school. She is 6 months sober and hates the world. She is snarky and bitter. She does not get along with her sister Beth (Kat Foster) but they tolerate each other. Their sister Rose (Highdee Kuan) is having a bachlorette party at their parents remote house as the film has all the elements of a cabin-in-the-woods film including the stop at the store with a confrontation along the way. Tess is moody and aloft as an arrow pierces the chest of one of the girls.

Our protagonist was not exciting and lacked personality. The party and build-up was not good.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.

A colossal waste of time.

[SkyWater8 · 1/10 · 12 October 2023]

As someone who genuinely admires action cinema, especially when women are allowed to play as well, I was looking forward to this movie. Maggie Q seems like the perfect female action hero for a touch gritty survival action movie.

Unfortunately, this isn't that. There's very little in the way of action, and what's there is poorly lit, shot and choreographed.

What's worse if all the characters, both the bad guys and the women defending themselves, are thoroughly unlikable. So much so, they all hate each other, and I hated the.

It's a shame because Maggie Q can make for a good action star, and the premise is a good one for this type of action movie. But it's completely wasted.

Fear the waste of time

[Stanlee107 · 2/10 · 30 August 2023]

Maggie Q drew me into watching this film, but I'm left wondering if it falls into the category of "woke" films. Does the film offer a decent storyline amidst my disappointment? While I'm a fan of Maggie Q, this movie was quite a departure from what I've come to expect from her.

Although the female characters are intended to be likable, I found many of them to be quite wooden. It's as if the writer aimed to create a female empowerment movie without fully developing the protagonists. Instead, the film leans into the trend of portraying female characters as primarily innocent victims within a patriarchal context. This approach tends to depict men as mere misogynistic figures, without any likable male characters present in this "woke" narrative.

The film feels somewhat reminiscent of a TV movie, though that's not my main issue with it. While I used to believe that few things are worse than a teacher scratching a chalkboard, this film has changed my perspective. The themes of male criticism presented in this film come across as quite misandristic and overshadow the overall experience.